10 Signs that you have the Boss from Hell
by Saissa
Summary: This came to me after spotting an article on Yahoo Finance this morning entitled - 10 Tell Tale Signs of a Terrible Boss. I have been wanting to do an evaluation of Gibbs, and I think this is the perfect way to do it. One-shot only. Sequel now up - Leaving the Boss from Hell.


Timothy picked up the magazine just for something to read while he was waiting at the grocery checkout. The queue was quite long and he had forgotten to grab a book or his e-reader when he came out to do his shopping.

He usually ignored the women's magazines in the rack by the checkout counters, but this one had a topic that he kind of wanted to know more about.

10 Signs that you have the Boss from Hell.

So Tim looked around the shop just to check that no-one was watching him, as he surreptitiously picked up the woman's magazine and dropped it into his shopping cart.

After getting through the checkout and paying for his groceries, Tim headed for his car and drove home. He put away the groceries and then took a deep breath as he sat down at his desk and picked up the magazine.

The title was still the same. 10 signs that you have the Boss from Hell. Page 15. Tim turned to page 15 and found a picture of a man sitting at a desk, with a computer on one side of him and a pile of folders on the other. The man has his head in hands and clearly was in despair. Tim nodded. Yep, that's exactly how he felt a lot of the time.

**Most people quit supervisors, they don't quit the job**. The psychologist being interviewed had stated.

Tim agreed with that. He loved his job. He just hated his team leader's management style. Then followed the signs of a terrible boss or supervisor.

1. Your boss is never ever wrong. He is always right.

Tim had no trouble agreeing with that. His team leader, one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was an impatient leader, and he hated anyone apologising for mistakes. He had picked up a credo from the actor John Wayne of all people - Never apologise, it's a sign of weakness. Not apologising meant that you were never wrong.

2. Your boss expects you to be exactly like them.

Tim nodded his head. This was one thing he had a lot of trouble with. Gibbs was a former marine, therefore former military. DiNozzo was a former police detective. David was a former Mossad agent. They all had military or police training of some kind. They all knew the camaraderie of a "family" who did the same job. Tim had never joined the military - despite his father's constant push for him to join the Navy. Tim had an inner ear problem which meant he got seasick on boats which meant he was unable to follow in his father's footsteps and join the Navy. So Tim had done the next best thing and applied to NCIS so that he would still be involved with the Navy in some small way. But that had not been good enough for his dad. And it seems that he was not good enough for Gibbs either. Tim hated the constant backslaps that Gibbs and DiNozzo gave him. They claimed that the headslaps were a wakeup call. Tim hated the constant reminders that he was not like the others. They were all used to this physical punishment. Tim was not.

3. The boss usually calls you into work on your day off.

This too was true. Sure, the team was on call one weekend a month (out of 4 teams at Headquarters) but almost every other weekend, Tim could expect a call from either Gibbs or DiNozzo to get to the office and do some more work on one of their cases. He noticed that Ziva and Tony seldom showed up at the office on the weekends when he was called in.

4. Your boss is a micro-manager.

Gibbs was well known for sending back reports with spelling errors in them. It was not uncommon for Tony to have to rewrite a report 4 or 5 times to get the spelling or the details right. The details for each of the reports, had to jive (match up) with all the other team members. So that if one person (usually this was Tim, because he was often a lot more observant) wrote a contradictory comment, Gibbs was usually on his back to either remove that comment, or at least tone it down so it didn't seem quite so bad.

5. Your boss constantly changes his mind.

Tim frowned. Gibbs didn't really change his mind that often. But Gibbs did expect Tim to think for himself under pressure and pursue a line of investigation. If it didn't pan out, Gibbs often berated the team for not being good enough or fast enough.

6. The feedback from the boss isn't relevant.

"What feedback?" Tim asked himself silently. Gibbs seldom gave out complements. When he did, they were often followed by a negative comment as well. Gibbs was far more likely to be yelling "I need this now, not in 10 minutes, Mcgee", or, "Go find him people!"

7. Your boss has favourites.

Oh my god! Tim gulped. This one was the biggie. Everyone knew that Gibbs had a favourite son, Tony DiNozzo, and a favourite daughter, Abby Sciuto, the forensic expert.

The psychologist went on to say that having favourites meant that the boss's mind was closed to the skills and value that other team members provided for the business, and also that they could not see that they were treating the other employees unfairly.

"Got that one right" muttered Tim to himself. "I'm only the computer geek. I'm only good enough to do the computer searches but I'm not good enough to go out into the field. If I do go out into the field, I have to be micro-managed."

8. Your boss hogs the limelight.

Well no. Tim didn't agree with that one. Actually, it more likely that Tony DiNozzo, the Senior Field Agent, and Gibb's 2IC, who would hog the limelight. He frequently and often claimed Tim's findings as his own, much to Tim's annoyance.

9. The boss is fast to blame you for mistakes and very slow to praise or compliment you on a job well done.

Tim nodded his head. Gibbs seldom if ever complimented any of his team members. Except for Abby. She got all the caf-pows, the kisses on the cheek and the "good job, Abby" comments the most from Gibbs.

10. It's getting harder for you to wake up, and go to work in the mornings and you are beginning to dread Mondays.

Tim admitted to himself that this was now true as well. After being on Gibb's team for 9 years, He was still being treated like a probationary agent, he seldom got to be the lead on a case, and Tony was still teasing, hazing and pranking him every chance he got. No, not pranking. Make that bullying.

Tim made up his mind then and there, He would go to Director Vance and ask about other possible openings on any other team - no matter where in the USA or the world they might be.

Tim finally decided that enough was enough. He no longer wanted to work for the Boss from Hell.


End file.
